With a balance sheet of $5.456 billion and net banking product of $351 million, BGFIBank group is the leader of banks in the Central African region, according to the yearly ranking of 200 banks elaborated by Jeune Afrique based on their 2017 financial results.   Its Gabon subsidiary is the second of the ranking with a balance sheet of $1.977 billion and net banking...

Last Friday, judges of the international criminal court ordered the conditional release of Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Blé Goudé. Following the judgment of the court of first instance that acquitted the former Ivorian president, the appeal judges decided to free the defendants. However, there is a condition to this freedom: “the appeal chamber unanimously decided to subject the release to...

The USA has imposed restrictive measures for the delivery of visa to Ghanaians, Reuters revealed on February 1, 2019. According to the release published by the US Department of Homeland Security, this measure follows Ghana’s refusal to receive Ghanaian nationals expelled by the USA. While the Uncle Sam has adopted an increasingly isolationist policy in terms of migration, the secretary of...

On January 31, 2019, Kenyan bank NIC Bank announced that it would finalize its merger with its compatriot Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA) in Q3, 2019. John Gachora, NIC Bank’s managing director, announced that they would seek shareholders and regulators’ approval in Q1 and Q2, 2019 respectively and proceed to the official merger in the third quarter. Once the merger is completed, the...

One hundred and fifty-three emerging Libyan leaders have received certificates after completing a ten-day intensive leadership workhop in Istanbul, Turkey, organized by the African Development Bank. The Tamayoz Residential programme, provided by Adam Smith International, exposed participants to leadership examples and success stories, provided deeper understanding of a leader’s...

Orange Telecom wants to boost its investments in the Central African Republic and requested an appropriate fiscal framework. This was discussed by Alioune Diagne, Orange director for the Middle-East and Africa, and Faustin Archange Touadéra, the country’s president in Bangui on January 31, 2019. During their discussions, they also talked about a partnership between the telecom firm and the...

Partech Ventures announced, on January 31, 2019, the final close of its venture capital fund dedicated to African tech firms at €125 million ($143.6 million).   This is nearly double the $70 million raised for the first close in January 2018. With this operation, Partech Africa is now the largest venture capital fund dedicated to African startups. In the coming months, the...

At end November 2018, Ghana’s external debt was $18 billion, figures recently published by the central bank reveal. Even though the debt-to-GDP ratio has slightly decreased to 28.9% against 29.3% at the end of 2017, there are worrying indicators. Despite a rise of the trade balance to $1.7 billion in December 2018, the country’s external debt was 10 times higher than net exports....

At end December 2018, South Africa’s money supply M3 was ZAR3,540 billion ($263 billion) representing a 5.59% rise on a year to year basis. Apart from being below forecasts (+5.78%), the increase of the money supply is the lowest recorded since end December 2012 (when it rose by 5.12%). According to experts, money supply is the addition of the quantity of money in central banks, the volume of...

Barthi Airtel announced that Qatar Investment Authority invested $200 million for new stakes in its African subsidiary Airtel Africa. “We are excited to welcome Qatar Investment Authority as a long-term strategic equity partner… This transaction will not involve any sale of shares by existing shareholders”, declared Airtel Africa, which is present in fifteen Sub Saharan countries. In...